A Marrero man convicted this month of shooting another man in the head before dumping and burning the body near a Waggaman landfill was sentenced to life in prison today. Troy Arnaud also was sentenced to 30 years in prison for obstructing justice, for eliminating evidence.

Troy Arnaud

Arnaud, 29, was convicted April 17 of second-degree murder and obstruction of justice in the Jan. 29, 2011, death of Marvin Romero-Pineda, 36, who was shot on the back of his head as the two wrestled in the back seat of a car.

Romero-Pineda, a native of Honduras, moved to the United States in the 1990s and worked in construction. He is survived by his wife and two children.

"We will never wake up from this painful nightmare," Romero-Pineda's brother, Jonathan Pineda, testified.

He met his killers in a daiquiri bar on Barataria Boulevard, where he had gone alone to drink and play pool. Arnaud and his friend Gregory Ford planned to rob the drunken Romero-Pineda, authorities said. The trio was seen leaving the business together, and Romero-Pineda's family filed a missing persons report with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office the following day.

About a week passed before authorities found Romero-Pineda's nude body in a wooded area off South Kenner Road. Arnaud and Ford were booked Feb. 11, 2011.

Judge John Molaison of the 24th Judicial District Court had no choice but to sentence Arnaud to life in prison, the mandatory punishment for second-degree murder in Louisiana. He sentenced Arnaud to 30 years for the obstruction of justice charge and ran the sentences consecutive, or back-to-back.

"The victim was a son, a father, a brother," Molaison noted. "He was a human being who deserved much better than he received."

Arnaud is no stranger to prison. He was sentenced to five years of imprisonment in 2003, after he agreed to testify against and helped convict two of his friends of murdering West Bank grocer Paul Fasullo during a 2003 home invasion in Marrero.

Initially charged with second-degree murder in the crime, Ford was allowed to plead guilty to accessory after the fact to the murder in exchange for his testimony that helped send Kellen Parker away for life and Dustin Dressner to death row.

In what some view as a just turn of events. Ford agreed to a plea deal in exchange for his testifying that Arnaud killed Romero-Pineda.

Ford, 24, was also charged with second-degree murder but in agreeing to a deal offered by prosecutors, he pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter and obstruction of justice in exchange for a 40-year sentence and his testimony.

Arnaud's public defender Tracy Sheppard argued for a new trial on grounds that the only evidence convicting her client was Ford's testimony. During the trial, she argued Ford was the killer and that while Arnaud left the bar with Romero-Pineda, Ford dropped Arnaud off at his home before the killing.

Paul Purpura, The Times-PicayuneJefferson Parish Government Center

She said Ford admitted to lying more than 30 times during his cross-examination during Arnaud's trial.

The prosecutors, Doug Freese and Myles Ranier, did not file an opposition to the new-trial request.

Without comment, Molaison denied the request.

Ford said after Arnaud shot Romero-Pineda in the back of his head, they drove the body to Arnaud's Mount Kennedy Drive home, where they washed the body and burned the clothing in an attempt to eliminate evidence connecting them to the crime.

They then drove the body to Waggaman, where Arnaud again shot Romero-Pineda in the head before pouring gas on his face and genitals and lighting the fire.

Their attempts at eliminating evidence led to the obstruction of justice charges, which carry up to 40 years of imprisonment. Ford received 40 years for his role in the obstruction.